1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to wax-impregnated charcoal briquets and their manufacture, and more particularly is directed towards a new and improved charcoal briquet system that is easily ignited without the use of lighter fluid.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional charcoal briquets are ignited normally by dowsing the charcoal with lighter fluid, allowing the fluid to soak into the briquets an then igniting the pile of briquets with a match. Once ignited, the fluid must burn away and the charcoal must be allowed to smolder to a point where the charcoals are hot enough to provide sufficient heat for cooking. The procedure is generally rather time consuming, and if there is any sort of wind, it is quite difficult to start, particularly where the fire is in the open and without shelter. Also, in some instances, if the charcoals are slow to heat up, a person will pour on additional amounts of starter fluid in an attempt to encourage the fire. This is an extremely dangerous procedure and many people are severely burned each year from uncontrolled fires and explosions resulting from this practice.
While it has been suggested to improve the ignitability of charcoal briquets by precoating them with different materials, such as wax, or the like, none of these have been entirely satisfactory from the standpoint of ease of ignition, low smoke characteristics, shelf life, safety, and other factors. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide improvements in the charcoal briquets. Another object of this invention is to provide a charcoal briquet system that is easily ignitable even in wind. A further object of this invention is to provide a novel method for producing charcoal briquets of superior ignition and burning characteristics.